'Hoax' Shooting Threats Disrupt Several Rhode Island Schools: Police

NARRAGANSETT, RI — Hoax active shooter calls disrupted several public schools in Rhode Island Monday morning, according to Rhode Island State Police and local departments.

Police departments in Narragansett and Westerly confirmed they received the fake calls reporting active shooters at their town's high schools.

"This morning, there was a report of a school shooting at the high school," a Narragansett police spokesperson said. "This reported incident was a hoax. There was no shooting, and all students and faculty are safe. Several communities received this false call this morning. We shall be conducting a follow-up investigation."

Rhode Island State Police Col. Darnell Weaver told WPRI 12 that police departments in Charlestown, East Greenwich and North Kingstown also received the hoax calls. The news station also reported receiving messages from parents in Barrington, Bristol and Portsmouth, that schools had lockdowns put in place over the hoax.

Rhode Island State Police said they believe the hoax calls all came from the same person.

Anyone accused of making hoax emergency calls in Rhode Island could face criminal charges. Similar hoax calls, often called "swatting," were received by schools in Massachusetts last month and across New Hampshire in December 2022. There was also another gunman hoax call in Concord, New Hampshire, earlier this month.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, swatting is "the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address."

The phrase "swatting" was entered the dictionary in 2015 and has been recognized as a criminal phenomenon by the FBI since at least 2008.